Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating slightly declined last week, marking its first downturn in six weeks, as revealed by a recent survey.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the survey conducted by Realmeter, commissioned by a local business news outlet, showed Lee's approval rating at 57.1 percent, which is a decrease of 1.1 percentage points from the previous week. Meanwhile, the disapproval rating increased by 1 percentage point, reaching 38.2 percent.
Realmeter suggested that the decrease in approval might be linked to ongoing social discussions regarding the fairness of governmental plans to merge major cities and provinces and to lower the age for criminal punishment. Despite positive financial and economic indicators, these debates seem to have influenced public opinion.
President Lee's proposal to merge the central city of Daejeon with the surrounding province of South Chungcheong aims to promote balanced regional development beyond the Seoul metropolitan area.
The survey, conducted from Monday through Friday, involved 2,507 adults and reported a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, with a 95 percent confidence level.
In a separate survey by the same pollster, involving 1,002 individuals aged 18 and over on Thursday and Friday, the ruling Democratic Party's approval rating showed a decline of 1.5 percentage points from the previous week, settling at 47.1 percent. Conversely, the main opposition People Power Party saw an increase of 1.2 percentage points, reaching 33.8 percent. This poll also had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.